Oyster bars are a tricky business where San Francisco is concerned. Always we've had Swan Oyster Depot, its marble and tin trays hinting at our populist past. On the other end? Hog Island Oyster Co.'s outpost in the Ferry Building, a symbol of our modern ways, sustainability coursing through its veins.

Squinting at the bay, a dozen Kumamotos at your elbow, a hunk of Acme epi, an invigorating glass of bubbles. Our perfect California moment, taken home by many as a souvenir.

But oyster joints historically have had a rowdy, tipsy side - a fact embraced lately not only in legacy spots like New Orleans' Pascal's Manale, but also at Brooklyn's Maison Premiere and Charleston, S.C.'s the Ordinary. It's reasonable to expect the same when the Ichi team's Ichi Kakiya opens later this year.

Hog Island's cocktails are refined, if curious. Pisco-rhubarb punch, smoothed with pineapple gomme syrup, winks at Barbary Coast times. The pleasing bite of rye whiskey and Averna in the San Andreas' Fault is tamed by the sweetness of agave nectar.

But are these oyster-appropriate? Sweetness does no justice to Hog Island's typically salty bivalve roster.

The Marshall Mule, a nod to the oyster farm's hometown of Marshall, does the best work on this front; earthy hints from Tequila and Ancho Reyes chile liqueur, and a squeeze of lime, evoke a boozy Mexican mignonette. The Waterfront Negroni also does proud service. But some of oysters' best high-proof companions, absinthe in particular, are notably absent.

The menu offers other charms. A recent special of fried geoduck strips was addictive, more tender than that Paul Bunyan of bivalves should reasonably be. (It's set to return.) Fried anchovy "croutons" add a fresh marine edge to that local trope, a little-gem Caesar salad. Add grilled oysters, or Hog Island's silken clam chowder, and an afternoon pit stop becomes a full meal.

You need not commit that much. Stand at the new cocktail bar just right of the entrance - one way to sidestep the frequent wait. (Which has improved, thanks to more seats.) Order a bite and complete the Hog Island experience on your feet. You'll have found what Ferry Plaza has long needed: a casual bar, accessible in the instant.